Visual Studio Setup

Installation and containerization of the Visual Studio family of products

Introducing Windows Installer PowerShell Extensions

Some time back I mentioned in a comment I was working on some PowerShell extensions for Windows Installer. Actually, it was a long time ago and I've spent more time learning the "ins" and "outs" of PowerShell (mostly the "ins" using .NET Reflector because the documentation needs work) than actually writing anything. Then, of course, there was ...

Workaround for Error 2902 with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System

When installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System, you might see an error that reads, The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2902. The arguments are: ixoRegAddValue, , You ...

How to Safely Delete Orphaned Patches

If Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 fails to install, you might find additional .msp files under %WINDIR%\Installer for each failed attempt. You should not simply delete these patches, however, because if one of the patches was applied successfully to one target product, deleting that patch will cause future maintenance installs – including...

The Patch Cache and Freeing Space

When you install a patch using Windows Installer, the .msp file is cached in the %WINDIR%\Installer directory. This accounts for some of the space required by Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1. A single patch is cached only once regardless to how many products the patch applies. Starting with Windows Installer 3.0, any patches that contain ...

Known Issues with Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1

There are several known issues when installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1. I've documented these below and, when possible, have included workarounds and status on any pending fixes. Contents Error 1718.File '...' was rejected by digital signature policy Install Rolls Back and Breaks Applications like Live Messenger Visual Studio 2005 ...

Workaround for Error 1718

When installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1, you may see an error like the following (file name will vary): Error 1718.File D:WINDOWSInstaller50baad.msp was rejected by digital signature policy. Knowledge Base article 925336 had originally documented instructions using the Local Security Policy UI to work around this issue based on my ...

Uninstall Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta before Installing the Release

Before installing the release of Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1, you must uninstall the Service Pack 1 Beta. If you do not uninstall the beta first, you will receive the following message localized appropriately for Windows, "The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be upgraded may be ...